By Rachel Thomas

I’ve been at McLean Bible Church for just about five months, during which I have had the honor to serve within the Student Ministries.  It has not been a typical five months in youth ministry!  Within this time I have been able to be a leader with 400 high school students to Myrtle Beach for a week, almost 200 people on a week-long mission trip to the Dominican Republic, lead a group of students at junior high summer camp in Maryland, participated in almost 1700 students coming to the “Terror Maze” as a Halloween outreach, and most recently, go on a 10-day trip to the Philippines.  This last trip was an incredible experience that I loved being a part of!  We were able to visit so many communities and slums to see where our church will partner with.  Now that we have seen we have nothing to do but act on it…but how?

Over the next two months we are asking the students to sell t-shirts, bracelets, and stickers to raise money for the people in the Philippines, an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, and a school in Uganda.  It will all lead up to an event called “New Year’s Aid.”  Thousands of students will choose to go out and party on New Year’s Eve, but we are offering a much more meaningful opportunity for them to come, hear about what the Lord is doing around the world and how they can be a part of it all.  This past Sunday we gave away dozens of shirts and stickers, and challenged our students to begin to talk about our project and to ask their friends to contribute.  We saw such excitement and anticipation in these junior high and high school students.  I am excited to see how this anticipation builds and spreads throughout the next 2 months.  God is at work within the hearts of these students and it is an honor to guide and disciple them as they grow!